We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Briia J.. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Briia below.

Briia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

It all started with just an idea. I was about 16 years old when I fell in love with makeup and came up with what I thought was a crazy and impossible idea. That Idea was to start my own makeup line! I knew I wanted to create something special and different that would shake up the beauty industry but I had no clue of how I was going to execute this plan. I decided to go to cosmetology school to get a more in-depth learning of what makeup really was and how to properly use it. Little did I know, that was all the push I needed to get started on my cosmetic makeup journey. While I was in school, I started to come up with different names to call my makeup line but none of them seemed to really catch my attention. That is until one day, while I was attending an esthetician class, we were working on chemical peels (which is a chemical that you use to exfoliate the skin and remove any dirt and dead cells that kinda stings when you apply it), and one of my teachers had stated that “sometimes beauty is pain and pretty hurts”, as she was referring to the chemical peel. But that one sentence had stayed in my mind throughout the rest of my time in school. once I graduated, got a job as a Lash Tech, and finally started making some money, I put most of my time and funds into creating my business. I started purchasing supplies and all the legal things you need to create a legit business and began to create the masterpiece of a business I have today called Pretty Hurts Cosmetics.

Briia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Licensed Cosmetologist/Esthetician who has a passion for helping others feel beautiful on the inside and out. I was born in Toledo, Ohio, when my family decided to take a leap of faith and move thousands of miles away to Phoenix, Arizona just 2 years after I was born. I attended school in Phoenix from elementary all the way to college where I graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Business. After graduating, I had decide to follow my then dreams of becoming a music producer and attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences where I graduated with a degree in Music Production and Management. I did an internship at the infamous Salt Mine Recording Studio in 2015 while doing hair, nails, and makeup services as a side hustle. I had plans to move to Los Angeles to continue pursuing my dreams of being in the entertainment industry after my internship was completed, but the cost of living in LA was just too much for me to handle at that time. So, I decided to move on to plan b. But just like every other young adult who is trying to find their purpose in life, I didn’t know what my “plan b” was.

In 2016, I started working a corporate job, where I was an employee for 2 years until I decided to turn my hobby of doing hair and passion makeup into a full-time job. I first attended cosmetology school at Empire Beauty School in Avondale, AZ, and graduated with a Cosmetology License. Then a year later, went to The Studio Academy of Beauty where I received my Esthetician License in August of 2020. In October of 2020, I decided to follow my lifelong dream of owning my own cosmetic makeup line, Pretty Hurts Cosmetics, which sold out of almost every product within the first week of my website launch. Being a new, young business owner is not easy, but it has taught me so much! I fund and run my entire business all by myself so of course, I’m going to run into all types of issues, big and small. But I’ve learned to overcome them and continue to move forward on my journey to success! I am striving to turn my small business into something huge! Something that goes beyond just makeup. I hope to create a brand that will inspire other young women, like myself, and help make a positive change in this world!

Pretty Hurts Cosmetics isn’t your average beauty brand. We’re bold. We’re daring. We are more than just a brand. There’s no rules, no stereotypes, no judgment. And that’s just the way we like it! PHCo. was established in October of 2020, where we started our journey to success. I was inspired to create PHCo. through my passion for makeup and making people feel bold and beautiful from the inside out. We were born to bend the rules. We ignore all limitations of beauty brands and those who don’t quite see our vision… yet. OUR BRAND IS FOR EVERYBODY. All ages, all races, all genders. Your face is yours to make…Do you. Be bold. And stay pretty.

I love every single product that PHCo. has produced, but I am most proud of the positive impact that I and my business have had on people thus far! It warms my heart every time I receive a message or email from a customer who is satisfied with my products and have stated how much I have inspired them to follow their dreams. That is what keeps me going!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As a newbie in this industry, it definitely has not been a smooth road. I’ve run into multiple issues regarding product inventory, or should I say, the lack thereof, funding, and sales. There has been days where I would get a ton of orders at once and then wouldn’t get any orders for almost a month! There has been times where I really wanted to give up because business would get so frustrating.The most difficult lesson that I had to unlearn was my lack of consistency. Throughout my entire life, I would do this thing where I would come up with an idea, start working on it, and then give up if I wasn’t seeing the results that I wanted right then. I would always start something and never finish it or be consistent with it. I had noticed that I needed to cut this unhealthy habit once I became a business owner. I knew that if I wanted my business to grow and succeed, I would have to put in the work because no one was going to do it for me. That was definitely a turning point in my career! Another difficult thing for me was the actual business side of being a business owner. Dealing with all the paperwork and legal stuff is nowhere near fun but it’s necessary. People really don’t understand that owning a business is way more than just creating products and making money. There’s a lot that goes into it and I definitely had to learn that myself.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built and still building my audience by actually posting makeup tutorials and creative makeup content on my personal social media pages. In my downtime, I love to create and produce SFX, glam, and every day makeup photos and videos and post them on things like Tik Tok, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube and more! Once I started gaining more followers on those pages, I started to promote my own makeup line, which my viewers loved. From there, as I started building my business, I began to create social media pages specifically for Pretty Hurts Cosmetics and started promoting my products to attract more makeup addicts like myself which helped my sales tremendously! For those of you who are just starting to build your social media presence, my advice to you is to stay consistent! Post more pictures, videos, reels, and even go live with your audience every now and then. Promote yourself. Get your name and your business name out there and don’t be afraid to do it. To tell you the total truth, it is not going to be easy at all and you’re going to have days, weeks, and months when you are not going to feel like posting anything. If you start to feel like that, it’s ok to take a small break, I know for a fact that social media can be tiring and have you feeling burnt out, but after you take a moment or two, get back on your grind. Don’t stay away for too long because you want to make sure that your business is the first thing that is on people’s minds when they wake up in the morning and the last thing they think about when the go to bed at night!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.prettyhurtscos.com
• Instagram: Business: @prettyhurtsco/Personal: @missbriiaj
• Facebook: Pretty Hurts Cosmetics
• Twitter: @missbriiaj
• Youtube: BRIIA J.
• Other: TikTok: @missbriiaj